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HURRICANE Florence is currently barreling towards the East Coast of America and has been forecast to make a direct hit on two nuclear power plants in North Carolina.

Hurricane Florence is scheduled to make landfall near the Brunswick nuclear plant, located just south of Wilmington, and near the Shearon Harris Nuclear Plant, which is further inland and located around 23 miles from Raleigh.

The BBC reported: “The Brunswick Nuclear Plant in Southport, North Carolina, is just a few miles from where Florence is expected to make landfall.”

Roger Hannah, a spokesman for the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission told Reuters that both nuclear power plants have been told to shut down their nuclear reactors 12 hours before the storm is set to hit the area.

Duke Energy, a firm that owns the two power plants, said it is preparing for Florence by removing any loose object that could cause damage when the storm hits.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) boss has warned the “very dangerous” storm is continuing to grow in strength.

NOAA Hurricane Hunter flight director Paul Flaherty, who has been surveying the storm, told CNN: “It is very very dangerous. This is life-threatening.

“One of the things is we come out here and we do everything we can and want to make sure that we get the best data going to the National Hurricane Center in the models and to the media so we can get people out of the way because it is a life-threatening situation and every time there is going to be those people who decide to stay.”

Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has also said electricity supplies could be down for weeks because of felled power lines and flooded equipment.

People have been warned that it will only be safe for power lines to be restored once weather conditions are safe.

But flash flooding from Florence will likely be “catastrophic” and “life-threatening”, says NHC, with the rain lasting for several days.

Up to 35 inches of rain could fall in isolated areas, with between 15 inches and 25 inches expected more widely.

Hurricane Florence could swerve along the US East Coast (Image: MSNBC)

MSNBC Meteorologist Bill Karins has said latest weather charts reveal a change in the path of the “life threatening” storm, which could to swerve towards the US state of Georgia after impacting North Carolina.

Mr Karins said there has been a change in computer models, which suggests the storm does not make direct landfall in North Carolina and instead drifts down the East Coast.

The weather forecaster said: “The European model still off the coast without landfall until Saturday.

“The European model goes towards Wilmington, stall, and down the South Carolina coast and then coming inland into Georgia. By this time, it will be much weaker.

“But this is a big change in the forecast from what we had last night, especially for people from Savannah to Beaufort to Charleston, Hilton Head Island and all the way to Georgetown and Myrtle Beach - much worse for you and still just as bad for our friends from Jacksonville, North Caroline down to Wilmington.”